Employer brand Part 2: Good practices

Sep 08, 2015

If you don’t have a good answer to the question ‘why would someone want to work here’, it is perhaps time to pay some attention to your employer branding efforts. Don’t worry – there are no universal truths, different companies will yield different answers.

As mentioned in part1, your employer brand is visible on and can be experienced through various channels. Thus, your employer branding ought to take different shapes and forms. Below are three of the most important ones.

Online

Make sure that your online channels, whether it is your website, social media or professional networks, convey a clear message as to why someone should apply for a job with you. Your job descriptions should be well-written, ideally catchy, and set the right expectations. Also, make it easy for job seekers to apply on your website – an attractive career site, an easily findable application button, and a straightforward application form can go a long way.

Then again, why just talk about your employer brand? Show your employer brand! You can illustrate your workplace and company culture with pictures, or even videos, on social media and on your website. What does life within the company look like? What are the ‘hidden’ perks? You can upload photos of the team (which is a great way of giving the company a face, making it more human and approachable), photos/videos of team activities, brand events, pictures of the office environment, and so forth. Visual proof of the workplace is much more compelling than any text!

Candidate experience

Once all the applications have flooded in due to your excellent online employer brand image, focus on the candidate experience. Since one of employer branding’s main goals is talent acquisition, you want the process to be a positive and respectful one for your job applicants.

Acknowledge their application, let them know what is happening. If they are not a match, kindly inform them. Did one of the candidates make it into the recruitment process? Manage their expectations - follow up, give them feedback, let them know when they will hear back – there is technology available to make all of this easy for you.

Above all, be honest and genuine with your candidates. Do not make promises you cannot keep, or give an impression that does not actually reflect your company culture and values – this will only hurt your employer brand.

Workplace

Don’t forget that your employer branding effort isn’t only geared towards talent acquisition – you also need to retain the talent that you already have. What do your employees find important in the workplace? Does your company culture need revisiting? How effective is your internal communication? How well-trained are managers in representing the brand and delivering the brand experience in the workplace? All of these aspects, and more influence your brand internally (thus, externally) and getting to the answers is likely to require some research.

Keeping employees updated on important company matters, facilitating communication amongst them (e.g. cross-departmental), giving managers proper training and having them address issues or (false) rumors, and countless more actions can help foster a good work environment.

Finally, employer branding isn’t just up to HR – the whole organization must be a part of your brand. Therefore, treat your employees as they want to be treated and they will keep recommending your company as a place to work at, both on- and offline.

All in all, take every opportunity to showcase your employer brand but be sure to stick to your company values at all times. Naturally, there are many more employer branding practices out there and some will serve your company better than others. The ones above are just a start but, remember, actions speak louder than words!